Yellow Howl
by redcristal
Summary: 4th in "Woke up Blonde" series. Oz centric. Summary: Oz ...waking up werewolf was a tad terrifying, this time it did not faze him as much.


**Yellow Howl**

 **4th Story in "Woke up Blonde" series**

 **Main** **Character** : Daniel "Oz" Osburne

 **Secondary Characters** : Buffy, Giles, Xander, Willow, Jenny Calendar, Harmony Kendall, Ethan Rayne...

 **Summary** : Oz ...waking up werewolf was a tad terrifying, this time it did not faze him as much.

 **Disclaimer** : I own nothing but the plot.

 **Buffy the Vampire Slayer** belongs to J. Whedon &Mutant Enemy. **Naruto** belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, **Elle Greenaway** from **Criminal** **Minds** belongs to Jeff Davis and Mark Gordon Company, CBS Television Studios and ABC Studios, **Aldren Academy & Brendan Burke **– is mentioned in Criminal Minds, 12 episode (Drive) of 11 season.

 **BtVS time-line** : After Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered and right before Passion.

 **Criminal Minds time-line** :BOU team after episode Cold Comfort. For Elle Greenaway (CM) 6 months after "The Boogeyman" the sixth episode of Criminal Minds.

* * *

 *****Osbourne Residence*****

In the Osbourne garage, a meeting was taking place after school. Daniel Osbourne – Oz to most people was sitting in his parents' garage with his rock group buddies. His parents were okay with them using the space for music practice.

Oz was sitting with Devon MacLeish, lead singer of the four member rock band Dingoes Ate My Baby. Their basis Sam was already present as well. The only member that was missing was Dean who played the drums.

"Right." Devon brought his palms together to command attention. "Let's start with rehearsal, unless somebody has a pressing matter?" With that, the three members looked at Oz.

He sighed. "Guys, you know I can't meet you at Bronze tonight."

"Dude," Dean muttered, who just stepped into the garage, "it's always the nights with a full moon with you; it's like you're some sort of werewolf."

"Oi, don't be a jerk, Dean," Sam hissed at his older cousin, making said cousin smirk.

"Or you'll do what, Sammy? Cry?" Dean mocked his cousin, who threw a crumpled newspaper at Dean.

"Jerk!"

"Bitch."

"If you are done with your lover's spat," Devon interrupted, making Oz grin. Those two were always entertaining to watch; it was like those films with Brother Marks or Charlie Chaplin – but with sound and color.

"That would be incest!" Sam and Dean coursed in rare agreement and sync.

"Dean and Samuel Colt," Oz pitched in, causing the arguing duo to freeze mid sentence.

The Colt cousins looked at Oz with wide eyes; the only expression on Oz's face was his raised eyebrow and poker face. And Oz could play a mean hand of poker. Got some easy money that way too.

"You sound like mom," Dean shuddered. Oz gave him a small smile.

"Yeah dude, don't do that. It's creepy." Sam nodded in agreement with his cousin.

"Well if it works," Oz said, deadpanning, then he turned to Devon, his guitar held at the ready, "Shall we start with the tuning first, then sing the number?"

 *****Basement*****

Today was the full moon, and since his parents were home, they double checked the barred doors to the windowless basement room where he weathered his change. Oz was glad that his parents were aware that his cousin Jordy was a werewolf. But unlike Oz, who was only contagious when he was furry, Jordy bit him when he was human and it was not nearly near a full moon.

Apparently, it had run in the Osbourne family – which Oz found out after Jordy bit him on the wrist.

The first ever werewolf in the family was Nathaniel Osbourne, who was an American private and he fought in World War II. Both Uncle Ken and Aunt Maureen were aware that Jordy went furry three nights during the full moon.

Oz took a big sniff; he could detect the faint scent of … a stranger, male ... also chalk ...

"Mom?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Was somebody here?"

"Well there was a teacher here in this basement; he was searching for drugs."

Ahh, that would explain the chalk smell. Most of the teachers carried that chalky smell, also ink and paper.

"Drugs?" Oz inquired as his mother checked if the bed was properly secured.

"It was probably because people think that all musicians are drug addicts. We allowed the teacher to look through every room. Just so that the faculty would not have a leg to stand on."

Suddenly, his father Nathan came down whistling a happy tune.

"What are you happy about?" Oz's mother Kathleen asked, amused as Jonathan swooped into the room, messed up Oz's hair, and gave a quick kiss to his wife before starting to help enforce the room for his son.

"I just heard interesting news that I might use," Jonathan hummed happily. His father worked as a freelance news reporter. Mom was a secretary at Sunnydale PD.

"Oh?"

"Well, apparently the principal of my old academy is getting a reward for being an outstanding pillar of the community."

"That news would not make you happy," Kathleen observed. Oz agreed with his mother with that point.

Oz's father had attended Aldren Academy, where he was often punished for small and untruthful offenses by Brendan Burke, the principal of Aldren Academy. Burke was, as Jonathan often put it, ' _a prudish hypocritical bastard son of a bottom-feeder, and that was an insult to all bottom-feeders'._

What was with principals being total douche bags?

The only decent principal Oz had ever met was Principal Flutie, and he was killed in his office. Eaten by the dogs – or so Sunnydale blues had said, which had given him inspiration for the name of his band.

 *****Morning*****

Oz woke up slowly, blinking in confusion. He was lying on his simple iron framed bed the one that his father bolted down so that when Oz transformed he could have not moved. The mattress was made from scratch resistant material that was often used for larger animals in a zoo. Under the mattress was a blanket, the key to the door, and his clothes, but… he was not naked. He was dressed in a hospital dressing gown, that usually never survived the change without being ripped to shreds.

Strange … so very strange. That meant that for some reason he did not become a werewolf during the night – though he did lose consciousness.

In the kitchen Oz found his parents having breakfast. "Morning," he greeted them.

"Morning, son," his mother smiled at him, "you might want to wash up, before eating."

"Good idea; I'll do that."

Climbing the stairs to get to the bathroom, he froze when he saw a face reflecting back at him – cobalt blue eyes with a cat like tilt to them and spiky bright yellow hair, with yaw length bangs that were framing his face. His face had a slightly different shape to it than it had yesterday, and he was taller now.

Contemplating his reflection, Oz shrugged and started his morning ritual of a morning wash.

He had school, and it would be there -in the library with his friends and the librarian that he would get his answers. There was no sense panicking about it – his parents hadn't. So it was a reasonable assumption that for them, at least, nothing had changed and there was no harm done, that he could see.

Opening his closet earned another raised eyebrow from Oz. There was a slight change in his wardrobe.

Again, odd but what can he do?

 *****Sunnydale High Halls*****

Oz was moving silently through the halls toward library when he heard a commotion.

Three jocks were circling a small girl – with long golden hair and green eyes, she looked like she had stepped out of fairytale book, with her lacy ruffle dress and shirt adding to the image.

"Beat it guys," she growled, Oz felt his brow go up; there was something familiar about her.

"It talks," one of the boys circling her cooed.

"I thought you said she was a shy little girl?" his friend asked, looking at the taller guy, clearly the leader – what was his name again, Larry? Oz was, almost, certain that those guys were part of the new Swim Team of Sunnydale.

"She was yesterday; she ran and hid in the janitor's closet."

"And she can hear you," the girl growled, and he could see her shift her stance – a very familiar stance; could this be one of his new friends?

He did not know them very well; he just started to hang around them at the school library, ever since they discovered that he was a werewolf.

"And what will you do about it?" one of the jocks asked arrogantly. Oz felt a small smile tug at the corners of his mouth when he noticed Buffy shift her stance just a bit, he leaned against the wall to watch the show.

A bit later … Oz was frowning at the scene; that wasn't right – Buffy had gotten distracted. It was a matter of seconds but Oz could detect that she felt more pain, that and she teared up and hadn't yet noticed that one of the jocks was moving toward her - and he crumpled back to the ground, courtesy of Oz's expert shoe throw.

Buffy hadn't noticed and that was worrying. If she was so in pain when having a minor tussle with jocks – humans that did not have a chance to retaliate by hitting her back– than what would happen if Buffy fought a vampire?

He walked toward library and slipped inside long before Buffy turned the corner behind him.

 *****High School Library*****

Slipping behind the bookshelves, Oz continued to observe maybe Cordelia, or maybe Willow, as she talked with Mr. Librarian. She was blond, but this one had reddish eyes and had a little blue eyed puppy with her.

Buffy walked in then and made a beeline to the librarian.

"Child, wh -who are you?" the librarian came toward her, hiding books behind him as was his habit when the unexpected, and not in the know of what went bump in the night, walked in.

"I'm Buffy!" She looked annoyed and frustrated; he could relate to the feeling. "Get with the program, something happened and..." She continued waving her hands at Mr. Giles, missing and accidentally hitting the table; he let out relieved breath.

That could be dangerous for Buffy since she had cradled her knuckles and was crying from pain after she confronted those bullies in the hall. Oz give himself a short nod; he would keep an eye on Buffy and help her where he could.

That was no different from the decision he'd made when he first got to know Buffy with Willow – he was still interested in the timid redhead, but this was proving to be one sided since she appeared to be avoiding him. This could have been a fluke, but Oz gave his home phone number and email address to Xander and she still didn't call or send him an email.

"Dear God, Buffy," breathed the Librarian Giles, then he started to clean his glasses with some force. Oz could see the mounting concern on the man's face heighten.

"Buffy! THIS is all your fault!" the other blonde screeched, getting into Buffy's face and pointing at her furiously. That was definitely not Willow, Oz thought – this was definitely Cordelia Chase.

"Who are you, Sailor Moon?" Buffy asked smirking and putting the pipe in her mouth. She looked amused.

"I'm Cordelia, what are you smoking?"

"You don't look like Cordy, and I don't smoke – this is an _**accessory**_ made from the finest China porcelain," she waved, saying the word 'accessory' with emphasis, then she nodded at the fox-doggy that sat down beside Cordelia.

"Who is the cutey?"

"I'm Adsila!" the fox-dog said in a female voice.

Ahh, Oz nodded, that name made sense; it meant blossom.

"And she talks," Buffy stated, her face and voice deadpan. Then Buffy turned toward Cordelia. "Cute friend you have there."

"My mother said that a man – Jan Congeria brought her for me," Cordelia said, leaning casually on the table while Adsila laid down by her leg, curling her tail over her front paws and cocking her head to the right, listening.

A familiar name that Oz had heard from his mother the day before this happened.

"Was he, by perchance, a teacher?" Buffy asked, tipping Oz that Jan Congeria, if that was his real name, visited Buffy as well. Now wasn't that suspicious.

"Mother didn't say. But our housekeeper said that he was from the Electric Company," Cordelia was explaining.

"And your parents just accepted the cutie?" Buffy asked next – something that Oz was wondering as well.

"Children!" Giles exclaimed, exasperated. "Can you explain why and how this happened? What did you do last night?"

But before anybody could have answered the librarian's question, there was the sound of running and ...

"I'm a Terminator!"

The library door opened with a bang, and a boy with braided blond hair, one lock sticking out on top like an antenna, ran in, waving his hands like a crazy person. He was followed by an equally blonde but taller and busty and curvaceous girl in a blue suit with a black and white dog at her heal. The dog didn't look fully grown yet.

"Calm down, Xander," the taller blonde trailing behind him tried to soothe the distressed boy, who was running around table still waving his hands – one of which was made of some kind of metal until he stopped before Giles. He turned around and waved his robotic arm under the other blonde girl's – that was probably Willow nose.

"I can't calm down, Wills – don't you see, I have robotic arm!" Xander yelled. Willow actually rolled her now brown eyes and sighed in exasperation at Xander's antics.

"You are not" Buffy said, while she was sitting on the table – probably for a better view of the room – she was like a living doll when she was like that.

"You just have a robotic arm and leg and ..." Buffy continued in a calm and soothing voice. Pity that Xander, judging by the way his amber eyes bulged out, heard only...

"LEGGG!" Xander grabbed his hair and pulled.

Buffy probably should not have mentioned that he had a mechanical leg as well, based on the spazzing Xander was doing now.

"How did you know Mr. Calm has a robotic leg?" Cordelia asked Buffy at the same time as she threw a book at Xander's head to shut him up – and it worked like a charm. He immediately quieted down … interesting.

"M-Miss Chase!" Giles exclaimed as he went to and then passed Xander, who was sitting on the floor, nursing a welt throbbing on his head, to pick up the book Cordelia used to calm Xander down. Then he turned the leather bound tome in his hands, inspecting for any damage done to the book.

"The way he walked was slightly tilted, so …" Buffy, meanwhile, answered the question Cordelia asked.

"Ahh," Cordelia nodded, closing her eyes and holding her chin in thought. Buffy, while Cordelia was toiling with her thinking pose, turned to the librarian who was still checking out the book and then turned to Willow and Xander who were both on the floor. Willow looked over the welt while Xander tried, and failed, to fend her off.

"Guys!" Buffy called to gain their attention – and could he detect a slight bit of amusement in her voice? Yes he could.

Xander blinked like a blonde owl at Buffy. "Huh, who are you?" It seemed that both Xander and Willow hadn't recognized either Cordelia or Buffy, judging by how both of them were looking from one to the other.

"She is Buffy, dumbass," Cordelia put in, her hands on her hips, and she leaned forward, her whole posture screaming ' _do not mess with me, buster._ '" – you know Miss-Slays-a-lot." After she said her piece, pointedly ignoring the ' _that's gotta be Cordelia Bitchy Queen_ ,' Cordelia turned to Giles, pointing at him as well as pinning him down with her reddish eyes.

"Better think of a way to solve this," she commanded imperiously, "I do not fancy missing cheerleader practice." At that she looked down her front, frowning thunderously, "and I want my chest back!"

Xander perked up but it was Willow who confronted Cordelia.

"Oh yeah, Cordy, you are as flat as a board now," Willow said smirking and wiggling her blonde eyebrows.

Cordelia narrowed her eyes into slits while her eyebrow twitched – Oz could have sworn that he saw a lightning cloud hovering over Cordelia's head.

"Don't call me Cordy, little miss softer side of Sears," Cordelia growled out.

"Children!" Giles yelled, trying to calm them all down. However Oz's attention was drawn to the doll like girl walking to the isle of bookshelves that held dictionaries. Now why would Buffy go there? Yes she was intelligent, but Oz knew through past observations that she usually let Giles and Willow do the main research – partly because, Oz suspected, she needed to expel physical energy and could not sit still. The other reason was because he thought burying Willow and Giles with the research part of slaying minimized their chances of getting hurt.

Giles still got concussed almost every time he went on patrol with all of them. Even Oz, when he first time staked a vampire, didn't get hit over the head, or Xander or Willow or, when she had deemed worthy, even Cordelia – though she usually acted as a bait girl did not end up with a concussion.

Buffy was trying to reach the book and she couldn't even reach the shelf that the book was on. Oz watched as she tried to reach, his eyes narrowed to read the book title, a ' _Latin to English/English to Latin dictionary_ ' by standing on her toe tips. She could barely brush her fingers on the bottom of the shelf that the dictionary was located on.

"Stupid, moth even ..." Buffy was growling insults and amusing threats at the book, though Oz was getting a bit concerned because she nearly pulled the entire shelf on top of herself when she started to hop toward the book she wanted.

That was not good, Oz decided, and within mere moments he was standing behind her, steadying the bookshelf and at the same time picking out the dictionary from its place.

"Thanks," Buffy grumbled as she turned around and looked up at him. By the slightly surprised expression she was not expecting him.

"Hello, Buffy," he greeted her, and watched when her green eyes widened in recognition.

"Oz," she stated.

"Yes," he confirmed, and watched how her gaze rested on his blonde spikes.

"You are blond," she stated it as a fact, not an ounce of surprise on her face. Oz's eyebrow quirked and he tilted his chin in confirmation.

"Yes."

Buffy looked him up and down, smiling slightly. "And taller."

"You are shorter," Oz deadpanned.

A careless shrug, "Yeah."

"What happened?" Oz asked, since considering she was looking for a dictionary, she obviously had an idea as to what was going on here.

"Magic, I think – no, I have a suspicion of who is responsible. But I need confirmation," Buffy said. "If I said Jan Congeria, …." Buffy trailed off suggestively and with raised eyebrow while she looked at him expectantly.

"A teacher with that name was in our house yesterday," Oz supplied, thinking over everything. His mother had told him about the visitor that went by that name.

Buffy had interesting cat like eyes, he thought, that were green, with sweeping thick lashes and highly arched thin eyebrows. But her pupils were an olive green color, not black, and the irises were two shades of green. The circle that enveloped the pupil was a moss green and then there was a lighter emerald green on the outskirts. She now had a small heart shaped face, with a pointy chin and a dainty thin upturned nose.

While he was cataloging Buffy's new features, something he had every intention of doing with the rest of the ' _Fellow Blonde Band_ ', Buffy opened the dictionary somewhere near the beginning, and Oz could see her eyes traveling down the page ...until she snapped it closed.

"Found it?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Bad."

Buffy closed her eyes and gave a tiny shake of her head. "It is not good. And Giles won't be happy."

Then she turned to the bickering duo of Willow, who now sported an hourglass figure, honey blonde shoulder length hair, and large brown eyes, and Cordelia, who had long hair in two side ponytails that fell to her waist on either side of her elongated, oval shaped face, sharp chin, and high cheekbones. Cordelia had large and round maroon red eyes with thick black eyebrows and lashes, and as a crown between them, there was a thin aquiline nose.

Oz was interrupted in his cataloging by Xander who was inching away from milk?

Why would Xander Harris do that of all things? He was shying away from milk the same way Oz would from silver.

Giles was trying to calm Willow and Cordelia down – he wasn't succeeding since they were actually growling at each other now. Their new pets were sitting side by side, watching the bickering like a good tennis match – that was funny to watch and he could understand the appeal.

"Oi – blondies!" she called out as she held up the Latin-English dictionary. "Did some guy come to your home yesterday?"

Xander nodded."Jan Congeria."

"Man, what is with you and milk?" Oz asked. It was bothering him; it's not like Xander was lactose intolerant. "You've been avoiding it all day," he commented, while looking over the changes the other teen went through.

Instead of dark brown, he now had blonde hair – that was a different shade than Oz's own, his own was yellow like the sun, while Buffy's turned into a colder, platinum, golden blonde hue. Xander's was a pure golden blond, though a couple of shades lighter than Oz,'s and warmer that Buffy's– and he had it tied in a plait. He also had a wide set of round amber eyes.

At Oz's 'milk comment' Xander whirled on him and started to yell. "I don't like to drink milk, all right! I don't wanna!"

Geez man, that was not cool, Oz thought as he watched Xander bristle like an angry cat faced with a dog.

"Xander, that is not for you," Giles's voice prevented Oz to saying anything, "It's for my neighbor's cat."

That made Xander visibly simmer down. "Ahh, OK then." He sprawled himself onto the chair.

Drama over with, out of corner of his eye Oz saw as Buffy turned to Willow, who was taller and more curvaceous than before. She also exuded a sense of order and authority – and she had guns. She now had an oblong face shape instead of an oval one, with a high forehead and jutting chin below her pointed nose, and she wore lipstick.

"Jan Congeria was apparently at my house talking to father," Willow said. "And this is Aleshanee. Dad said that the same man brought her to our house before I woke up." She pointed at the Shiba Inu, who was sniffing at Adsila.

"Right," Buffy drawled. "One, I think this is permanent. And done by Giles' buddy Ethan Rayne."

"WHAT?!" that came from all of them – well Oz didn't say anything. He was perfectly content in waiting for Buffy to share the information.

"How is it Ethan?" Mr Giles questioned. Come to think of it, Oz was unaware of the librarian's general background information. He knew that he was the only librarian that the school had, that he had British accent, that he was called Giles, and that he was Buffy's Watcher with a capital W. But not in the jailbait way.

"This is not permanent!" Cordelia yelled at them all, "FIX IT!"

"Oh knock it off, Cordy, you might be flat as a board ..." Xander started.

He appeared to still have the 'foot in the mouth' disease; it didn't go away with his old hair color, apparently, Oz thought with a wry smile and took care to get out of the line of fire. Oz made sure with quick glance that no one else was in Cordelia's way.

"I am not flat!" Cordelia screeched.

"And I am not short!" Xander yelled back. When did Cordelia, or anybody for that matter, call him short?

"Nobody called you short!" Cordelia's eyes became burning red in her anger as she marched up to Xander and poked him in the chest. "Buffy is short, you idiot, not you!"

While those two went into another round of arguments – this time about height, of all things Willow and Giles turned their attention to Buffy and Oz as he was standing beside her.

"Buffy, what did you mean by permanent?" Willow asked, her sienna brown eyes sharp on the lissome petite girl standing beside him. They were almost hawkish in their intensity, but that didn't seem to faze Buffy as she calmly gazed back at the taller woman – no, girl. Buffy's gaze was as always,unflinching in her belief.

Mr. Giles clicked his tongue, drawing Buffy's and Oz's gazes to the librarian. "And how is Ethan involved in all of this?" he directed his question at Buffy again.

By the tone of librarian's voice, Oz figured that he believed Buffy, or wanted to, but he could not see how this Ethan Rayne person could have done this.

Buffy's green eyes glinted with a light blue light as she bit slightly on her pipe. Where did she get it from? Oz had no idea; it just suddenly was in her hand.

"I'll explain," she intoned as she closed her eyes, then opened them; her green gaze bored into Mr. Giles.

She took a breath then started to talk, her voice and tone matter of fact. "The name Jan is short for Janus and Congeria is Latin for Chaos. Also this is somewhat similar to the spell he did on Halloween. Only far more potent and not to mention targeted."

Buffy waved her hand encompassing all of them – _The Band of Blondes_ , that has nice ring to it …Oz rubbed his face. What was I thinking, he thought – that was a totally lame nickname.

"Nobody sees the changes but us. And you Giles." Then she shrugged. "But I haven't met any other that is aware of the magic and what we do or Angel, I haven't seen him either," she added with a slight smile that put dimples into her cheeks.

It was a good thing that Buffy hadn't meet any vampires – she might still have her Slayer Strength, but somehow going from slightly shorter than average changed her in other ways – Buffy was taller than him before and Oz was short before waking up this morning, she was petite size now, and ...

When she hit one of the jocks, knocking the burly jock out cold, Oz could see how her eyes welled with tears, and how she cradled her palm for a minute. It was then that the down jock wanted to grab her, and distracted as Buffy was she did not notice the danger – or Oz putting a stop to it.

At this, the door to the library swung open and the Computer Science teacher Jenny Calendar walked in. Her eyes darted around, looking for something, and when her eyes met the group, she faltered in her steps. Oz could see that she was unsure of her welcome. Miss Calendar's cognac colored eyes flew toward Giles for a moment then fell to the ground.

While Oz understood why Miss Calendar didn't reveal her personal information about herself or the reason why she was in Sunnydale in the first place, considering that her knowing that Buffy was The Slayer and that she closely worked with Angel, this essentially put Buffy's secret, her very life, into Miss Calendar's hands. She could have at least given a warning that something could happen, that the soul was unstable, and this would not have been a violation of the Computer Science teacher's privacy.

After all, giving a small warning that soul was unstable could have prevented a loss of an ally. Granted it might have still happened – but at least Miss Calendar would not have lost their trust in her, and perhaps her uncle would not have died or her life would not be in jeopardy now. Because by now, surely after killing that guy – Miss Calendar's uncle Angelus was aware that Jennifer Calendar was actually Janna of the Kalderash, the same gypsy tribe that cursed him with a soul in the first place.

"Rupert, can I …" Miss Calendar was looking at Mr. Giles, though she was avoiding direct eye contact.

Oz could sympathize with the awkward feeling the teacher had around them and the librarian in particular. Since it was plain to see that Miss Calendar was in love with Mr. Giles, and judging by the conflicted and flustered expression, Mr. Giles had – the librarian had the same gentle feelings toward Miss Calendar.

"Miss Calendar." Buffy stepped closer in one firm and precise movement, cutting across the computer science teacher's words. But her voice was mild, her eyes soft to cushion the abruptness of her interruption of Miss Calendar's plea.

"Do you notice something different about all of us?" She pointed at the others,then at him and lastly at herself.

Miss Calendar looked at them, really looked, then she shook her head for a negative; her brows furrowed in confusion.

"No," Miss Calendar said, then she glanced under her eyelashes at Mr. Giles. "I should..."

"Jenny, wait please," Giles said while he gently touched Miss Calendar's elbow, then he adjusted his glasses, suddenly flustered as Jenny turned back and faced him. Her expression was hopeful, and his was guarded and flustered.

"Oh for the love of," Cordelia exploded. "Miss Calendar lied and chose the kooky gypsy clan over us, which resulted in Miss-Slays-a-lot's psycho boyfriend to lose his soul. Get over it! Spank your inner Mopped, but get over it. We have bigger problems than one more blood sucker in Sunnydale."

"What is going on?" Miss Calendar looked from one person to the next, her eyes filled with intent.

"Well, it is like this," Giles said while looking at Miss Calendar, "the children do not look the same as they did the previous evening; they woke up … different."

Miss Calendar blinked and tilted her head. "They do not look any different."

"Well we do!" Cordelia started to rant, "I had a fabulous figure and now I'm flat with tacky shoes and blonde hair – though I look good blonde. Buffy turned into a tiny dolly Lolita; Xander became a spazzy long, blonde haired idiot … though that is not much different, and the nerd girl is not a redhead anymore, but a gun toting blonde."

Oz's eyebrows climbed up in amusement; did Cordelia even breath during this rant, and she forgot to mention him – but that was all right with him.

Miss Calendar blinked. "And I don't see, or even remember, the difference?" she asked. "But Rupert does?"

At the many nods, she hummed. "Are you sure you are not under some spell that makes you think all that?"

 *****Several time explanation later*****

Miss Calendar – who insisted on being called Jenny by all of them finally decided to believe them. She spread a black taffeta napkin on the table, while she held knucklebones of sheep and some pebbles carved with symbols.

"Giles, what is Miss Cale- ahm Jenny doing?" Willow asked, while leaning forward for better view.

"Cleromancy," Buffy whispered while she watched Jenny intently, "The origin of the terms are Greek. Cleros means 'a lot' and 'manteia' refers to divination. The knucklebones of animals was used to cast the lots, and this in fact gave rise to a particular form of divination known as astragalomancy since 'astragli' in ancient Greece referred to the knucklebones of the sheep."

"Ahh," Willow nodded, while Giles sent an odd look to Buffy, who leaned toward the librarian.

"While we were waiting for Jenny to come back I looked it up," she told him, and Oz helped her gather books that were about the subject. Some she read on the spot – she had become a very fast reader. Some were in her bag, she had checked them out while Giles was otherwise occupied.

"Oh, right." The librarian looked uncomfortable and dazed for some reason. "Buffy?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you..."

"Shh, Giles, Jenny will cast now, you can ask me later."

"Quite right."

And just as bones and pebbles fell from Jenny's hand, Principal Snyder walked in. "Right, little miscreants, stop loitering. You have short..." he started to say.

"DON'T CALL ME SHORT!" Xander roared, and there was lightning and suddenly the swinging doors transformed into a palm, slapping Snyder like one would slap a fly – or a mosquito.

Xander stared at the unconscious body. "Did I do that?"

Oz nodded. "Yes."

Xander walked to the body and poked it with a stick. "Why the heck did I do that?"

"Well, that does it then. Somebody will have to patrol instead of me."

Cordelia whirled at her. "Wait – why. You are the Slayer; it's your job!"

"I don't get paid – so not a job," Buffy said pointedly, while perusing another book. Oz tilted his head so he could see the title – it was not written in with the English alphabet.

"She can't patrol," Oz stated while trying to decipher what language this could have been.

"I u - understand that changes are distracting," Giles said, while ripping his glasses off and cleaning them with vengeance. The librarian/Watcher was clearly frustrated by what was happening if the creasing on his forehead was any indication. "But you are still The Slayer."

"She is sensitive to pain." Oz turned to the Watcher, while nudging Buffy to step aside, so that he was facing Mr. Giles. "She was having trouble with the human bullies, and if she is sent out, she will die," Oz stated with an apologetic look to Buffy. She just nodded solemnly back at him, but he could still see the miniscule twitch in her jaw – she did not like sitting this out, but if she went out like that, she would not be saving anyone.

Buffy nodded. "It's true," she confirmed Oz's words, then she turned back to Giles while starting to tell him about what happened in the school hallway. At the same time Mr. Giles reached forward and flicked her forehead.

"Ouch Giles!" Buffy immediately put her small palm over the spot while she teared up.

"What is wrong with you? That wasn't cool, man," Oz chided Giles – who looked chagrined but also worried about Buffy.

"That hurt?" Giles asked while he stepped back. He was clearly shocked by Buffy's reaction – and Oz supposed he was also shocked by his behavior. Truthfully, Oz was wondering about it too. But logically Buffy was most at risk here.

"Yes!" Buffy was now rubbing her forehead and blinking furiously so that the tears would not fall. Oz politely did not look at the lone tear that escaped from under her eyelash.

"It felt like you slapped me!" Buffy exclaimed, her voice shook slightly, but otherwise it was in its normal pitch.

"I'm terribly sorry," librarian sounded genuinely sorry as well.

"She cannot go on patrol Rupert – she'll get killed." That was from Miss Calendar. Wait just a moment …

"Miss Calendar, how did Angel lose his soul … or is my new liability ...well new?"

"He felt accepted and loved by you … that was the true reason."

"He felt loved, trusted, and accepted by me – and he and I shared an intimate moment," Buffy said matter of fact.

"Oh, well … about that, I umm, made a program that translates lost Romani language."

Jenny Calendar was a good person, Oz decided.

"You are looking for a Soul Restoration Spell?"

"Aahh yes."

"Miss Calendar, stay with Giles and do not go out after nightfall," Buffy said, while tapping the cover of the book.

"That is all right; no one knows that I'm from the Kalderash tribe, and"

"Miss Calendar, Drusilla is a seer; she might already have had a vision that you are able to do the restoration spell."

"That is OK – I'll take the patrol." Xander raised his hand from his place on the floor where he was poking the unconscious principal.

Giles clucked his tongue. "Xander, it is not your duty to..."

"Neither is it Buffy's. She died once so technically she is done with that duty," Willow said matter of fact. "Besides, the way you use this word is incorrect. Duty implies choice – Buffy had none. She did not chose to be a slayer; she is not bound by oath on HOW to use her powers."

Buffy nodded. "C'est correct."

Giles turned toward Buffy, his eyes wide in astonishment. "Buffy – since when do you speak French?"

"Since I woke up this morning …. and I also speak German, Italian, and Japanese, oh and Arabic. Oh and also Greek – also apparently Occitan and Monégasque, whatever that is," Buffy listed but ended with a frustrated huff accompanied by throwing her arms into the air and sitting heavily on the chair with a small pout.

Mr. Giles then turned around and brought a couple of books and then put her before Buffy to read the language they were written in out loud then summarize what she had read.

During that … he came to a startling realization- he could read and speak Japanese as well. This is something he shared with the others.

"So we for some reason" Cordelia waved at them all "woke up totally blonde and learned another language?"

"It would appear so," Mr Giles said while looking over Buffy translating the Latin text into Greek.

"Not to rain on anybody's parade," Buffy looked up from her texts, "Willow can you check if our subjects changed – before I left for school today my mom – who totally didn't notice anything different than usual" Buffy ignored Cordelia's muttering that Joyce Summers never sees anything amiss in general "Mom said that since I passed French, I applied for Spanish. I believe that the new teacher Miss Greenaway is teaching that class."

Willow was already accessing their time tables. "You are right. Xander you have added to your usual classes Advanced Chemistry along with Biomolecular Engineering."

"What!" Xander went to Willow and peered over her shoulder. "No way – oh hey, I do very well in those. Except for the fact I have never been – did we even have these subjects before?"

Oz shrugged, the motion was repeated around the room.

"Moving on," Willow said, while typing on the keyboard, "well I have Vehicle engineering and Metallurgy and Law Studies." She leaned back in her chair. "Now those I know we did not have here before."

Then she went back to the screen, scrolling down.

"Cordy, you also have Law Studies with me and Molecular engineering, something you have with Oz. Oz you have Ecological engineering and Culinary. OK, apparently you are into ecology and cooking – nice combo there. Buffy you, along with Spanish, have Sociology and Ethnology and Anthropology classes." Then she pressed a couple keys, "and you have two more classes - Folklore Studies and the Arts."

Buffy frowned. "That is a bit _**too**_ much, isn't it? With the regular classes?"

"That is just it. Apparently you passed most of them already."

"What? _**How**_ and _when_?" Then she paused, "how did I do?" Buffy asked in a small thin voice.

"Well you are apparently the brainy girl now. You passed my scores .. or my old scores, with straight A+."

"Oh." Buffy breathed, she looked a bit overwhelmed.

"Uhuh," Willow muttered. "Big problem, guys, we are going to be late to our classes – I'm printing our timetables and maps so that you'll know where the new classes are located, and we will meet before school. Oz, will you take Buffy home after class?" At Oz's affirmative nod Willow continued. "Take the timetables with your names on it and – Miss Calendar and Mr Giles will sign forms saying that you held us up, so that we won't get detentions today for being late."

 *****After school*****

After school, Oz made sure that he saw Buffy walk into her house – the house she was not to leave under any circumstances, or if she had to, she would call one of them first. Anyways, she was not to be alone outside, until they fixed her newly gained pain sensitivity.

Then Oz went home; when he entered his house, both his parents were excitedly talking...

"This is good, dear, perhaps all those gruesome murders by the gangs on PCP drugs and those unexplained barbecue accidents will be solved," his mother was saying while his father was showing her the newspaper. Oz managed to read some of the article from the paper that his father was waving around. He read:

 **Sunnydale Day News**

 **"There was a missing person's report posted. The concerned parents called … FBI … Quantico team will be landing in the Army base Airport…. Missing teen is Harmony Kendall...from her home."**

* * *

 **1/5**


End file.
